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Patriot Games

I think Billmon has some election ideas worth projecting to a wide audience. In Patriot Games he writes (along with so much else, all of it important):

“To really crack the GOP coalition, though, economic populism has to be wrapped in something larger — like the flag. I’m coming around to the view that the winning theme for the Democrats in this election — the one that could really tear the bark off Bush (to borrow somebody else’s phrase) is ‘economic patriotism.’ The Dems need a rhetorical and substantive program that ties the job/trade issue into a broader set of arguments about the privileges and obligations of citizenship, the relationship between fiscal stewardship and national strength, and the enduring worth of basic American principles like opportunity, community and fairness. And they have to contrast those priorities with the increasingly warped values of the corporate crony capitalists and their Republican water boys in Washington.

In other words, the Democrats need to make the case that the GOP has been selling ordinary hard-working, middle-class Americans down the river – and thus selling the country down the river.”

“Economic patriotism.” I REALLY like that idea, and especially his wording. Some have called for “economic democracy” but I like this wording much better. There is a lot that can be done with this idea. After all, who IS our economy for, anyway?